IPL 2014: What The Teams Need To Do To Reach The Play-Offs

Israr Ahmed Hashmi clears up exactly who has qualified, who is eliminated and what the others have to do to make it through to the Indian Premier League 2014 play-offs.

Exactly a month ago, cricket’s most watched T20 league started its seventh edition in the Emirates.

The league is now back to its birthplace of India and is in its final stage. 10 days and 15 matches remain in the group stage and all the buzz has been shifted to the teams that will make it to the play-offs.

In 30 days of action-packed entertainment, raining sixes, flying stumps and high drama, eight teams fought to make it to the final four and get a chance to be this year’s champion.

The current standings are as follows:

The Kings XI Punjab lead the table while the Delhi Daredevils are right at the bottom.

According to the current standings, the Kings XI Punjab and the Chennai Super Kings have booked their places in the play-offs with eight wins in 10 matches each.

The Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Daredevils are already out of the race with seven defeats in 10 matches and nine defeats in 11 matches respectively.

This makes it a battle between four teams for two places in the play-offs. If you are a fan of these teams you will definitely be interested to know how these teams can make it to the next phase.

Here is what they need to do.

Rajasthan Royals

They are in the most comfortable position among all the teams. They need just one win to make it to the play-offs. They meet Mumbai on Monday, Punjab on Friday and Mumbai again next Sunday. One win from these three games and they are through.

Kolkata Knight Riders

The Knight Riders have played 10 games and sit in fourth with five wins and five losses. They need to win three out of their remaining four matches to qualify. They will meet Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad again to complete their 14 group matches. They have a huge advantage and can eliminate their chasing opponents.

If they manage to beat Hyderabad on Sunday, Hyderabad will eventually be knocked out and if they lose, they face them against next Sunday to return the favour. Also, they will meet Bangalore on Thursday and a win will eliminate the Royal Challengers.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Hyderabad is in a tough situation here. They have four matches and realistically need to win all of those to qualify. Another option is to win three matches and hope Kolkata and Bangalore to lose two and three of their remaining matches respectively.

They face Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata in their next games. If they can beat Kolkata twice, they will have a good chance to make it to the next round.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

They are in the most tense and difficult of positions. Just above Mumbai and Delhi at the bottom of the pile, Bangalore need to win all four of their remaining matches.

They face Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai again in their next matches. They need a win every time to qualify to the next round.

Important Notes

If Kolkata beat Hyderabad on Sunday, it will almost be the end for Hyderabad.

The winner of Hyderabad vs Bangalore on Thursday will knock its opponent out of the play-off race (based on if both Hyderabad and Bangalore win their matches on Sunday).

CricketWorld.com team members made their predictions about the teams to qualify for the play-offs before the start of the league, which you can read here.